What notifications families control

Families control most of their own notifications. The transactional ones (a receipt for a charge they just paid, an account-level security alert) cannot be turned off. Everything else is up to them.

Where families control this

In the parent portal at /portal/notifications. Three tabs: Email, SMS, and Push.

What they can turn on or off

• Class reminders. A nudge before each class.
• Schedule changes. Notification when a class is canceled, moved, or added.
• Payment receipts. Email after every charge. (Almost everyone leaves this on.)
• Payment reminders. Heads-up before a large charge.
• Promotion announcements. Notification when their child is promoted.
• Event announcements. Marketing for upcoming events, parties, and seminars.
• Referral nudges. Reminders to refer a friend.
• Newsletter. Monthly digest from the school.
• Survey requests. Asks after each rank promotion or event.

Each one has three channels: email, SMS, push. The family can use one, two, or all three for each notification type.

What they cannot turn off

• Account security alerts. Password changes, new device sign-ins, suspicious activity.
• Card-on-file expiration notice. 30, 14, and 7 days before their card expires.
• Failed payment notice. When a charge declines, they hear about it.
• Waiver expiration. When a signed waiver is about to expire.
• Legal notices. Privacy policy updates, terms of service changes.

These are non-negotiable because they protect the family from being surprised by a problem they could have prevented.

SMS opt-in rules

By U.S. law, SMS marketing requires explicit consent. When a family first creates an account, they see an SMS opt-in checkbox. If they leave it unchecked, no marketing SMS goes out. Transactional SMS (class reminder, payment receipt) is still allowed because they enrolled, which counts as consent for transactional messages.

Families can text STOP to any Rosterra SMS to instantly opt out of everything. Rosterra honors this for the entire channel; they cannot accidentally start getting SMS again from another journey.

Push notification setup

Push notifications go through the mobile app. Families turn them on when they install the app the first time. If they declined, they can re-enable them at any time from the app's settings.

Sending fewer notifications

If you want to send less mail per family to keep them happy, do not turn off entire notification categories. Instead, be choosier about who you broadcast to. The notification settings give families control; broadcast targeting gives you control.